News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Jackson County Board of Education approved the purchase of three electric buses Thursday.
IC Bus Cumberland Account Manager Ashley Scurlock said a charging station and three buses totals $170,000 after EPA grant funding covers a majority of the costs. Scurlock also said the school system would receive $120,000 from the federal government the next fiscal year for purchasing the buses.
“When you get the direct pay from the federal government you can do absolutely anything with it there are no restrictions,” Scurlock said. “You can build a roof, a capitol project, put a roof on, and air condition something, it doesn’t have to be tied to future spending for electric school buses or transportation it goes in your general fund for you all to do what you wish.”
Director of Schools Jason Hardy said he views it as after grant funding and federal reimbursements, the school system would have three buses and a charging station for only a sum of $50,000. Hardy said he believes purchasing the buses is taking advantage of a great opportunity.
“I think we made a good choice and what we are going to save on that,” Hardy said. “One bus is $170,000 one diesel bus alone so I think it is a good deal.”
Hardy said has had discussions with Putnam and Bledsoe County as they have electric buses and have said they are very reliable. Hardy said Jackson County could be ahead of most counties as electric buses may be the future.
“This is something that we don’t know in the future if we will have a fleet of them or not,” Hardy said. “But we do know that we are going to have a trial period of you know five to ten years or we are going to have three buses that we will use and we will kind of see.”
Hardy said the buses will save the school system money on fuel in the short term and also not have to buy more diesel buses to replace other buses in the future. Hardy said he expects to have the buses by the beginning of the next school year.
In other business, The board approved fundraisers for Jackson County High School Class of 2026 and Jackson County Middle School 8th grade class. The board approved November overnight trips for Beta Conventions.
